The purpose of this page is to
help disprove some of myths and misinformation that are being spread by
owners and supporters of Honda and Acura automobiles, and to give my
opinions on Hondas and Acuras. I am constantly hearing and seeing people
praising Hondas and Acuras, THE MOST OVERRATED & OVER-HYPED CARS
to ever come out of Japan. These same people bash American cars and like
to tell you how "superior" their Hondas/Acuras are. This page
will tell you the other side of the story, what the Honda/Acura folks
don't want you the find out, and refuse to believe.

False
Hondas and Acuras

I'm
sure that all of you have seen one of these stickers on on the back of a
Honda or Acura. I think that these lemmings actually think that the
placement of this badge will make their car fast! Lets take a minute to
distinguish the facts, shall we? First of all, there were never any Civic
Type R's sold in the U.S. The REAL Civic Type R was born a
hatchback and sold in Japan only. There was a variant sold in
Canada named the Civic SiR, which was also in hatchback form. Most of the
Civics you see hyping this badge are bottom of the basement Civic HX or DX
econoboxes with 92-110 HP. Throw on a Fart Cannon and away we go! Go Speed
Racer, go!

Now on to the
Acura Intergra. There were a few (around 2,000) true Acura Intergra Type
R's sold in the U.S. All others are simply fakes. I have heard that the
actual Type R's had a unique pearl white paint.

As
far as I know, there is no such thing as a Honda Prelude Type R. If there
is, it is a Japan only model as well. I have seen many of these
fakers.

Honda Hype Vs. Reality

Honda cars have got to be the most
overrated cars ever built. It seems
that anyone who owns a Honda becomes a brainwashed Lemming, buying into
the delusion that Hondas are defect free, never break down, and have
better performance than any other make of car, especially those
"unreliable American gas guzzlers". The automotive press
consistently praise Honda products while overlooking their flaws, and do
exactly the opposite to any domestic vehicles.

While Hondas can
be very good cars, they are far from perfect. Honda has had
their share of product recalls. They are machines designed by humans.
However, their owners like to overlook any quality or design problems.
These problems are never mentioned when they are comparing their perfect
Honda products to an "inferior domestic", but are well known by
Honda owners. Check out any of the big WWW sites for Hondas and you
will find pages devoted to complaints Honda & Acura owners have about
their cars but will only admit when they are in a "Honda
friendly" atmosphere. Below are some examples:REC.AUTOS.MAKERS.HONDA
See messages posted to USENET about problems with Hondas (Deja News). Many
Honda lovers say,"There are hardly any posts in the honda newsgroups
about problems unlike those other inferior cars." Find out for
yourself here.

Honda
Civic Complaints Page(from the Civic Homepage)
Read the complaints that Honda owners have made about their cars.
Complaints like squeaks and rattles, poor quality,and noise, which are all
the things that the "inferior, poor quality" American vehicles
are supposed to suffer from. But..But...I thought Hondas were defect-free!
Everbody says so!

Letter
from an Disatisfied Honda Owner
Read a letter sent to me by a reader of this page who is disatisfied with
his Honda car and the customer service he recieved when dealing with his
less than perfect Honda Accord Coupe.

Search
the NHTSA Recall Database for Honda/Acura RecallsThe US National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration
records of auto manufacturer recalls. The majority of people never hear
about a Honda or Acura recall, but when a domestic automaker has a recall,
it is usually the top story on the 11 o'clock TV news. The only thing most
people have been brainwashed to "know" is that Acuras and Hondas
are "quality" cars.

Honda
Lover's Delusion: Honda & Acura engines are more powerful than
American V8s

The Mysterious VTEC

Ask almost any Honda or
Acura enthusiast which is more powerful, an American V-8 or a Honda engine
and he will always say, "Hondas, because they have VTEC and the
shitty American engines don't!" Honda and Acura enthusiasts are
always boasting about how "VTEC" makes Honda engines the
greatest thing since the wheel was invented. VTEC is just variable
valve timing, a feature that Nissan, Ford, and BMW all have in some of
their engines. VTEC is just a crutch that Honda uses to make their tiny
engines more drivable. Why do Honda engines need this crutch?

Honda engines used in Integras and Civics
are very small (less than 2 liters) Small displacement engines need to
spin HIGH RPMs in order to make power, and be cammed for optimum air/fuel
and exhaust flow at high RPM. This causes the small engine to have
almost ZERO low RPM torque. Without variable cam timing which gives a
different camshaft lobe profile for high RPM and low RPM, the engine would
make the car undrivable. A typical American pushrod V-8 has very good
low RPM torque due to larger displacement and can make horsepower at both
high AND low RPMs.

Dodge
Spirit R/T made 224 HP @ 6000 RPM from a 2.2 liter 16V DOHC
turbo engine. This works out to 102 HORSEPOWER PER LITER! In 1993
the Dodge
Daytona IROC R/Tused the same engine and made the same horsepower.
Why didn't we hear more about these cars? The Honda lovers were too busy
saying American cars suck!

Many Honda people have written in crying,
"No fair--that's a turbo engine! If you put a turbo on a Integra
GS-R..." But we're not talking about "if" here. It seems
they can't accept the facts. Honda does not make turbo-equipped engines
stock from the factory, and what I am talking about here are STOCK
horsepower ratings, regardless of induction. I guess it just hurts some
Honda enthusiasts to shatter another one of their beloved myths, that only
Honda is able to make over 100 HP per liter.

Anoter irony is that one of the most
popular modifications for VTEC Hondas is a turbocharger or supercharger.
If Chrysler had the foresight in the 80's to install them on the assembly
line, then maybe there were a step ahead.

Oldsmobile W- 41 Quad 4

Another American example is the famous
Oldsmobile W-41 Quad 4 engine from 1991-1992. That bad boy made 190 hp and
165 ft. lbs. of torque with no turbo! The math only works out to 83HP per
liter, but the Honda Si 1.8 liter that makes 100 HP per liter only has 180
HP.

Honda's Larger displacement Engines

Also note that there are only a few of these
"high specific output" engines installed in Honda cars. Honda
themselves are using more and more larger displacement engines in their
cars besides the Civic, Integra and Prelude, such as the V6 in the Accord
and in Acura's larger sedans. Even Honda knows there's no replacement for
DISPLACEMENT!

Another Honda Lover's
Myth: Hondas and Acuras Have "High Tech" engines, while American
Cars are "Low Tech"

Honda lovers like tell you that their cars
have engines with the ultimate in new high technology while American cars
are "low tech". This is not true. All the things that Honda and
Acura lovers think of as "high tech" and "modern"
actually are designs that have been used in cars since the 1930's. In
fact, the inline 4 cylinder is actually an older design than the V-8. Things
like DOHC and 4 valves per cylinder were used on cars in the '20s and
'30s.

American cars had them, too, in Auburns
and Dusenbergs, just to name two. In the '70s, Americans could buy a
compact car with an all-aluminum 16 valve DOHC, EFI engine that could turn
8,000 RPM. Sound's like an Integra of today, doesn't it? Surprise! it was
the Chevy
Cosworth Vega

Honda/Acura lovers are constantly critizing
American performance cars such as the Firebird, Camaro, & Corvette for
having pushrod operated valves instead of SOHC or DOHC. The truth is, the
LS1 engine used in these cars makes HORSEPOWER & TORQUE. Much more
than any Honda or Acura engine, including the NSX. And this engine is
available in an $24,000 car, not just the top of the line flagship.

Pushrod engines work very well and make
power,but since SOHC and DOHC are
latest fad these days, all the American manufacturers make them. Ever hear
of the:

"High tech" Honda engine
VS. "Low Tech" American V8

A lot of Honda enthusiasts say it is
easy to build a 500 HP Honda engine. Sure it is if you have enough money!
Buth then with enough money, you could make a lawn tractor outrun a top
fueler.

The April 1998 issue of Hot Rod
magazine featured 2 engine buildup stories: one a "high tech"
turbo Honda engine built by JG Engine Dynamics, and an "old
tech" Buick 455 V8. Hot Rod, unlike most "sport compact
car" magazines, gets into the details of the engines in featured cars
and the costs to build.Both made 500 horsepower, but the Honda
cost almost 3 times what the Buick cost . Basically, they threw away
the bottom end of the Honda, since in stock form the Honda cannot
withstand the pressures of making 500 HP. They basically rebuilt
the block with ductile iron cylinder sleeves and closed the open
block deck by welding in a deck plate.The pistons and rods were replaced
with expensive aftermarket pieces.

The "low tech" Buick used
nearly all stock parts with the exception of ported stock heads, an
aftermarket cam, aluminum intake manifold and headers. The Buick's
short block uses a stock rods,crank, and block. It will make 500
HP using ordinary premium pump gas, while the Honda needs expensive
racing gas to make the full 500 hp.

The Buick engine was installed in a large 3950
lb. Buick GS and ran the quarter mile in 11.59 secs. It would be much
quicker if the engine was put in a lighter car, like a Nova, Skylark, or
Ventura. According to JG Engine Dynamics, their Honda engines
usually run low 11sec. - quarter-miles in a 2500 lb.Civic.

Keep in mind that the Buick 455
is not even a popular engine to modify; parts for Buick engines are more
expensive than more common Chevys. But for the same price as ONE
high-strung, grenade-waiting- to-detonate Honda engine, TWO mild, more
durable "old tech" Buick V8s could be built with money left
over. In fact, you could build the Buick engine and pick up a
fairly nice car to put the Buick engine in for less than the cost of the
Honda engine alone!

So unless you have a rich mommy and
daddy, or don't mind maxing out your credit cards or taking out a 2nd
mortgage, Hondas engines are not great to modify for drag racing if
you want to go fast for a reasonable amount of money